calhau
Portuguese, noun/kaˈʎaw/
calhau is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “stone, boulder” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “fragmento de rocha dura; pedra solta; seixo; rebo”.
What does calhau mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinestone, boulder
- 2
derogatoryinformalmasculineidiot
- 3
Brazilmasculineplaceholder
- 4
Brazilmasculinean ad placed to fill space in a newspaper page; filler
- 5
masculinepebble beach
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
noun: 1. fragmento de rocha dura; pedra solta; seixo; rebo 2. branco com que se completa a medida, em páginas curtas 3. anúncio gracioso ou aceito a preço reduzido, para publicação quando sobra espaço no jornal 4. pequeno texto ou clichê aproveitado para preencher claros na paginação de jornal ou de revista
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of calhau
- calhaus plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce calhau?
- Brazil /kaˈʎaw/
- Brazil [kaˈʎaʊ̯]
- Portugal /kɐˈʎaw/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to calhau
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is calhau in Portuguese?
calhau appears about once in every 2 million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).